The one Panther who has beaten the Devils in the playoffs says Florida has one big edge over the 1998 Senators who KO’d New Jersey.

“We never had a Pavel Bure in Ottawa,” defenseman Lance Pitlick said. “I don’t know if we’re better, but there are a lot of similarities.”

Pitlick was part of that Senator team that ousted New Jersey in six in the first round in 1998, helping build the Devils’ reputation as One-Cup wonders.

Pitlick says that despite his unique status among his teammates, he isn’t offering much advice.

“We have a lot of veteran players with a ton more experience than I have,” said Pitlick, who has played 39 career playoff games. “We didn’t do anything extra special to knock them out that year. We scored important goals and had great goaltending.”

Those Senators also gained a split of the first pair at the Meadowlands, which propelled them to their upset. The Panthers tonight will be trying to be the fourth straight playoff foe to split the opening pair at the Meadowlands, and each of the three previous teams (Rangers, Senators and Penguins) captured the series.

*

Sergei Brylin says what he is doing to Bure should not be confused with what Claude Lemieux did to Cam Neely in 1995.

“I don’t think I was shadowing him,” Brylin said. “Larry Robinson doesn’t want me to pick him up until he gets to the red line.”

Brylin limited Bure to one assist in the Devils’ 4-3 opening game victory, while scoring a goal himself. Brylin scored three goals in five games against Pittsburgh in last year’s playoffs, and scored his first playoff goal in the Cup-winning game in 1995.

“I’m not Mr. April,” Brylin protested. “Give me a break. I scored one goal. I don’t want to be called Mr. April.”

Brylin played with two lines in Game 1, starting with Bobby Holik and Randy McKay, and later moving onto the left of Scott Gomez and Alex Mogilny.